Refuting claims
suggesting that no refugees had been linked to terrorism, Sen. Jeff
Sessions, R-Ala., released a list of 12 refugees who had links to terror
plans in 2015, according to Breitbart News. These claims went viral in
the main stream media just as President Obama came under increasing fire
for his plan to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. this fiscal
year.
Below are excerpts from Breitbart’s report concerning several of the refugees sought, indicted or sentenced on terror grounds.
“On January 29, 2015, in the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of Virginia, a federal warrant was unsealed for the
arrest of Liban Haji Mohamed – a native of Somalia who sources indicate
came to the United States as a refugee, adjusted to Lawful Permanent
Resident status, and subsequently applied for and received citizenship –
for allegedly providing material support to Harakat Shabaab
Al-Mujahidin, also known as Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda. Mohamed is believed
to have left the U.S. on July 5, 2012, with the intent to join
Al-Shabaab in East Africa.
“On February 5, 2015, in the United States District Court for the
Western District of Texas, Abdinassir Mohamud Ibrahim – a native of
Somalia who came to the United States as a refugee in 2007 at the age of
22 and subsequently adjusted to Lawful Permanent Resident status – was
sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for conspiring to provide
material support to Al-Shabaab…and for making a false statement in his
immigration paperwork. Ibrahim knowingly lied in his application for
citizenship, and previously lied on his request for refugee status, by
falsely claiming that he was of a member of the minority Awer clan in
Somalia and subject to persecution.
“On February 5, 2015, in the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of Missouri, Armin Harcevic – a native of Bosnia who
came to the United States as a refugee, and subsequently adjusted to
Lawful Permanent Resident status – was charged with conspiring to
provide material support and resources to terrorists, and with providing
material support to terrorists. According to the Indictment, Harcevic
collected money from third parties and wired it and his own funds to
terrorists abroad.
“On February 5, 2015, in the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of Missouri, Mediha Medy Salkicevic – a native of
Bosnia who sources indicate came to the United States as a refugee,
adjusted to Lawful Permanent Resident status, and subsequently applied
for and received citizenship – was charged with conspiring to provide
material support and resources to terrorists, and providing material
support to terrorists. According to press accounts, Salkicevic was
formerly an employee with a cargo company that deals with items coming
in and out of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.”
Breitbart reports a congressional staffer said the following about
Sen. Sessions’ list: “This list — which only covers 2015 and not the
many jihadis from prior years — illustrates just how incapable our
government is of vetting refugees or predicting post-entry
radicalization. Yet the president wants a completely blank-check [in the
appropriations bill] to fund not only all of these existing refugee
programs from across the globe, but to add a permanent Syrian
resettlement program to it — funded directly out of Americans’ paychecks
and retirement accounts.”
Congress will determine funding for Obama’s refugee programs as part
of an appropriations bill that must pass by December 11, the expiration
of the continuing resolution that is currently funding the federal
government.
Read more about Sen. Sessions’ list in Breitbart News, or a related story about refugee involvement in terror plots.